Packing means for preserving perishable articles.



E. R. GILL.

PACKING MEANS FOR PRESERVING PERISHABLE ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED IuLYI, 1913.

l. gl 399359., Patented May 11, 1915.

EDWXN R. GLL, F YONKERS, NEKU YQRK.

PACKING MEANS FOR PRESERVENG PERESHABLE ARTICLES..

Application filed July 1, 1913.

' T0 all whom it' may concern Be it known that ll, EDWIN R. GILL, a citizen of the United' States, residing at Yonkers, in the county of Westchester and- .State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Packing Means for Preserving Perishable Articles; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

lin transporting and storing eggs, fruit and the like, it has been customary to make use of containers and wrappers of various kinds which, while aording more or less protection from bruising or breakage, nevertheless are not effective in excluding microbes, ferments and other microscopic agents of destruction. indeed certain wrappers have been employed, as, for instance, containers made of strawboard, which often carry within them such undesirable germs as are found on the straw, etc., of which they are made. These germs, being communicated to the contents of the packages, become a source of rot or taint. Prior methods have also beenpractised in packing eggs, wherein each egg was coated or closely wrapped or both with antiseptic envelops which acted to stop up the pores in the shells, and deprived the egg of air, besides tending to cause detriment to the egg by direct action of the foreign material upon the contents of the shell.

rlfhe object of the present invention is the rovision of an improved container wherey, not only are all the atmospheric germs prevented from gaining access to the contents during transportation, but tainting by contact with the envelop itself is prevented, a body of air is inclosed around each egg, and the original, unchanged, natural condition of the egg is maintained.

A preferred form of envelop or container, especially useful for the safe transportation and storage of eggs and certain fruits, is

I illustrated in the accompanying drawing,

wherein- Figure 1 is a vertical section of an egg crate packed with my improved containers taken on the line a' of Fig. 2, Fig. 2 is .a horizontal section of the same on .the line Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented ltilay iii, lii.

serial ne. waz/7a Y-Y of Fig. l, and Fig.- 3 is a sectional view of a small container showing the two halves separated.

lt-isfto be understood, of course, that the form illustrated is set forth merely by way of example, as my invention is applicable to a great variety of forms of container.

The egg or fruit case shown in the draw ings consists of two halves or sheets 1G and 1l, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, each of which is formed with domes or pockets, l2. rEhe entire finished container is formed by bringing two of these sheets together so that the opening of each dome or pocket in each sheet registers with the similar opening in the other sheet. Unit containers are thus formed which may be used separately or be packed together.,

My invention consists in manufacturing these or other suitable containers of pulp impregnated with a suitable antiseptic or germicide. impregnation in this manner makes it possible to use straw-board or other material otherwise frequently aV source of germ taint.

ll prefer to incorporate the germicide in question in the original pulp vat from which the material is taken, although this is not essential.

While a great variety of germicides will answer the purpose, l prefer such as least tend to impart any odor or avor to the contents of the package, and l have found a strong proportion of common salt (NaCl) to be particularly adapted to this purpose.

in Figs. l and 2 are shown the special packing usually employed by me for'shipping and storing eggs. rThe crates 13 are made in two divisions adapted to hold fifteen dozen in each. In order to accommodate this number in crates of this character, alternate horizontal packing units are used having respectively sixteen and twenty five cells, as shown on the two sides of Fig. 2. This arrangement causes the cells in each unit to occupy the spaces between the cells l in the next unit, thus economlzing space and making the strength and elasticity of the dome lform available to resist breakage throughout the entire volume of the crate.

Mymethod of packing reduces to a minimum\ any tendency to imparting the odor or flavor of the germicide to the containedeggs,fetc., since contact between the article contained and its envelo is restricted to a relatively small area. n this respect my method is superior to coating each egg, wrapping in paper or merely packing in lime, etc. l

1. In a packin -means for the purpose described, `a close cell having walls composed of pulp impregnated with a germicide.

Ina packing means for the urpose described, a closed cell having wallls composed of pulp impregnated with a germicide and sha pac ed, substantially as scribed.

3. In a packing means for the purpose described, a pair of sheets each provided with half cells adapted to register with the half cells in the other, the walls of said half cells 20 being impregnated with an antiseptic material, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

EDWIN R. GILL. Witnesses: y

H. S. MAGKAYE, KATHARINE C. MEAD.

edloosely to envelop the article to be A15 e 

